Mystery Fish ID (no pics - sorry!)

[Allivymar]

Saw an unusual fish at Petsmart today that I just couldn't identify. Of course they had no tag on the tank, nor anyone working in the dep't *shock*

Looked mostly like a cichlid. Small, maybe 3 inches long with a medium deep body. Very pale pinkish in color, with shiny iridescent orange scales on the abdomen (the rest of the fish is matte). Single dorsal fin, triangular tail, can't remember if there were obvious ventral fins but I'm thinking not as I don't remember em LOL

I'm assuming its some sort of color morph, but of what? They were pretty neat looking, and if I get those 2 tanks tomorrow, I'm tempted...

 

[ferret]

Some sort of albino morph, from the sounds of it, but without photo its hard to say more. There's just so darn many cichlids

Although it sounds a lot like my tiger oscars I have a feeling you'd know if it was them though

 

[Christmasfish]

My lfs has some cute ones in that color with some( rams?} blue ones. And some albinos and some lemon chiffon. He was steering my son to a handful of those instead of the chocolate gourami. The tank looks so lovely and pastel..^.^
Gurly even. He said they were a dwarfed variety. (what 5 inches instead of 8?..heh!). Ill ask him what they specifically are tomorrow or Friday when we pick up 2 more chocolates. He may not know mu anabantids well, but he is a cichlid freak. He knows al his favs. Heh!!

 

[BrianNY]

Sounds like a very weird angelfish alli

 

[Fruitbat]

Possibly a female Pink Convict Cichlid (Cichlasoma (Archocentrus) nigrofasciatum). They're a semi-albino morph of the Convict Cichlid. The females look like this:

http://www.uniquaria.com/photogallery/otheramer/mvc-002f.jpg

Like their regular-colored relatives, the female often has a scattering of sparkling orange scales on their ventral surface (not well illustrated in the link).

Oh...by the way....these are probably the EASIEST cichlids to breed. A pair will almost always lay eggs, even at small sizes.

 

[Allivymar]

Yay! Thats it; I have to admit I've never seen an Pink Convict with that orange iridescence; is it a sign of breeding readiness or have I just not been paying attention? I always thought they had redder bellies, and didn't realise the scales there were so shiny!

Ok, so I'll be passing on em LOL I have enough breeding cichlids as is, and I don't need more aggressive lil buggers; the angels are bad enough atm LOL

 

[Sati]

Everybody make a note. Alli actually passed on a fish! lol

 

[Allivymar]

Hey! I'm fussy I'll have you know! No livebearers in MY tanks, although passing on a cichlid hurts LOL And I think those convicts were absolutely adorable. Some day, when I have a big house with lots of rooms (or a garage LOL) I'm starting a dedicated fish room. There are way too many fish out there that I want!

 

[Sati]

Alli, I got some busted tanks from one of the my aquarium group members. Now I get called "crazy fish lady." I shouldn't say this, but I'm sorry, this lady was Super crazy fish lady! She had 100+ tanks. Lots of broken and empty ones around but she has 70+ filled with fish in her basement. The thing is, none of the tanks were attractive. They were really hokey, scratched, dirty, covered with algae, crappy light, etc. There were some pretty fish but you had to look *really* hard because they were all in these skuzzy tanks. There were bugs everywhere and it stank. Just a mess. Not one pretty tank. I left in complete shock. I vowed to never be quite that far gone

 

[Allivymar]

Ewww. I know folks do that with cats n dogs n pigs n birds, but fish too? I have fish cause I like to look at em. Heh, is why I got so nutso when I had the algae bloom; no point in having tanks if you can't enjoy the fish (or any other pet IMHO).

Is why I'm kinda bummed about not being able to take those cute lil convicts. I have a feeling they'd be an awful lot of fun to watch.

 

[Fruitbat]

Alli...

Convicts ARE fun to watch but they do have a tendency to get a bit aggressive. Big surprise...huh?? They grow to about six inches....though I've rarely seen them that big. I remember the first pair that I ever kept...back in the days when I didn't know better...in a 10 gallon tank. They were only about two inches long and it surprised the heck out of me when I came in one afternoon and saw them guarding a nest of eggs! It wasn't long before I was supplying Convict Cichlids to the local pet store even faster than they could sell them.

I saw a pair at my lfs a couple of weeks ago and the male was easily six inches long! Biggest Convict Cichlids I ever saw!